Columns

If 2017 is bookmarked in history, it will be as the year of reassessment.
During the year we’ve been urged to reassess the meaning of sexual harassment. We’ve been urged to reassess what is “normal” conduct for a president of the United States. And, sometimes with violence, we’ve been confronted with a reassessment of those who are honored by statues and monuments in public places.

Girls on the Run Tri County is working with the J. Marion Sims Foundation to expand its middle-school program, Heart and Sole, in Lancaster County Schools.
Heart and Sole is Girls on the Run’s program that meets the unique needs of girls in sixth to eighth grade. The program addresses the whole girl – body, brain, heart, spirit and social – in a positive space where girls can learn about themselves, explore new ideas, develop empathy and strengthen connections with their peers and coaches.

The world isn’t a perfect place. It has poverty, pollution, violence, and the list continues.
I have a dream to better the world that we live in. Like the great Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream to have racial equality, I have a dream to help the world and its people.
I want to make it known to everyone that we can all do better at making the world safer and cleaner. l want to let people know that we can get rid of poverty, violence and hatred in the world to become at peace with one another.

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can do that,” said Martin Luther King Jr. “I have decided to stick to love. Hate is too great of a burden to bear.”
For many years, our nation has lacked peace and unity. From war to segregation to this present time, Dr. King’s dream sometimes seems to become a nightmare.
As we stand collectively in the midst of controversy and challenge, it often seems the dream of unity and peace has been forgotten.

Last Tuesday night, I attended a presentation in Sun City by the pro-incorporation group and those who don’t support this incorporation effort.
After listening closely to both presentations, I am convinced that incorporation is not the best option for us.

The S.C. legislative session started Tuesday, and a common theme in our recent state governance is that much of the legislation that’s proposed would do more harm than good.
Unfortunately, if recently prefiled legislation (bills filed in advance for the upcoming year) is any indication, 2018 will be more of the same.
While some proposals seem well thought out, others simply lack all signs of common sense. Here is a quick rundown of some of the more ridiculous prefile bills from the House alone.

What is it that makes Lancaster unique? What are our identifiers? How can we incorporate those into your 21st century public library system?
It’s all about the citizens who live here – every single one. A library is democracy in action. No one person’s needs supersede another’s.
A new baby goes home from the hospital with a free board book from the library’s Born to Read program. A retiree can find a comfortable chair and enjoy The Charlotte Observer (print version) for free. Microfilm of The Lancaster News dates back to 1905.

There is a wolf in sheep’s clothing working its way through our state legislature.
The bill purports to be a transparency bill, but it is anything but. And it will hide how millions of taxpayer dollars are spent.
The wording begins saying any nonprofit entity that “received more than one hundred dollars in public funds from a state agency or political subdivision in the previous calendar year or the current calendar year, must submit a quarterly expenditure report to the jurisdiction awarding the funds.”
That sounds great.

With the arrival of 2018, it’s time again for resolutions, changes and goals.
Many of us celebrated New Year’s Eve with family and friends, attending parties or church services across Lancaster County. But aside from all the celebrating, it is important that we reflect on the year we’ve had here.

What are you planning to change in 2018?
This is a question we are all asked each New Year. I have been looking back at responses I received from students while I was teaching K4 and K5 in the late ’90s.
Let me share some examples, exactly as written by the students, with their own thoughts and their own style of language at ages 4 and 5. These wonderful children were good writers for their age.
◆ 5-year-old girl: “I wants to cook My mommy wrks lot an bonly sambich get well they get yuck.”